Physical healthcare in severe mental illness

Psychiatric populations show high rates
of significant medical disease – about 50% of in-patients
in most studies. They also tend to receive poorer treatment for
physical disease than the rest of the population.

There is ongoing discussion about how best to
co-ordinate effective treatment of physical disease in people with
severe mental illness (SMI). However, there is no doubt that
psychiatrists must be competent in the recognition and management
of physical diseases – especially those which are
particularly common in the population which they treat.